Activity Category: Interview
Activity Title: North vs. South
Number of Members: 4
Time of the Activity: 9 minutes
PA Standards:
8.1.3.B: Identify fact, opinion, multiple points of view, and primary sources as related to historical events.
8.3.3.D: Identify and describe how conflict and cooperation among groups and organizations have impacted the history and development of the US
NCSS Themes:
Culture
People Places and Environments
Time, Continuity and Change
Script
Characters: Reporter, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Harriet Tubman
Props: Civil War uniforms, slave clothing, microphone
Setting: TV set of LLAN News
ReporterGrantLeeHarriet
Amanda: Hi! Welcome to LLAN News! My name is Amanda, and today is January 26th, 1866. Today we will be discussing the events of the American Civil War. As you all know, the war lasted 4 years, from 1861 to 1865. As we discuss the war, we will talk with a few people about their experiences and views of the war. We have Ulysses S. Grant from the Union and Robert E. Lee from the Confederacy. Can each of you introduce yourselves for us? General Lee, you can go first.
Linde: Hello, my name is General Robert E. Lee, and I led the Confederates against the Union in The War for Southern Independence as we called it.
Nichole: Hi, my name is General Ulysses S. Grant, and I led the Union to a historic victory in The War of the Rebellion.
Amanda: Lee, I noticed that you called The War for Southern Independence and Grant, you called it The War of the Rebellion. Why is this?
Nichole: The South rebelled against the United States so we called it The War of the Rebellion.
Linde: We wanted independence from the rules of the Constitution. We thought that the Constitution should be set by the states and not by the Motherland, and the election of Lincoln meant our freedom might be taken away. We also wanted to lower taxes on imported goods. Theses tariffs forced were aimed towards us because the South import more goods than the North!
Amanda: That’s very interesting, I never knew that. So, in your individual opinion, what do you think caused the war?
Linde: Other than what I stated before, if our slaves were taken away we could no longer uphold our way of life. We needed cheap labor on our plantations to produce products such as cotton, sugar, and rice, as much as the North needs cheap labor in their industries. The slaves are better off here than Africa. Like I just stated, we started the war because we felt that the individual states needed more power to make decisions for themselves.
Nichole: Whoa! The United States needs to have a central government!
Linde: No! You don’t understand. Our economy is agriculture based. You are industrialized. How can we follow the same rules?
Nichole: Yeah but what about slavery? It is inhumane to have Africans working for nothing.
Amanda: That brings up a good point! We have another guest here to speak about that very point. Here is Harriet.
Laura: Hello my name is Harriet Tubman, and I worked as a slave for a Maryland cotton plantation for a good part of my life. I also watched my masters' children and was beaten whenever they cried. After escaping slavery in 1849 I returned to Maryland and made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves using the Underground Railroad. I think that we were fighting this war for freedom and equality.
Amanda: I heard Lee talking before about President Lincoln who was elected as president in 1860. How do each of you feel about him?
Linde: You already know how I feel about it. He was going to take away our freedom and independance.
Nichole: I think that Lincoln was the perfect man for the job! He is a Northern Republican, so the Union knew that he would support our views of slavery, our magnificent country, and the economy. He vowed to keep the country united and to keep slavery out of the new western territories. He sure did too! He declared all slaves free when signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.
Amanda: What about you Harriet? How do you feel about President Lincoln?
Laura: “Master Lincoln, he's a great man, and I am a poor negro; but the negro can tell master Lincoln how to save the money and the young men. He can do it by setting the negro free. Suppose that was an awful big snake down there, on the floor. He bite you. Folks all scared, because you die. You send for a doctor to cut the bite; but the snake, he rolled up there, and while the doctor doing it, he bite you again. The doctor dug out that bite; but while the doctor doing it, the snake, he spring up and bite you again; so he keep doing it, till you kill him. That's what master Lincoln ought to know.”
Amanda: Let’s move on. The Civil War ended on April 9th, 1865 when General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Even though the war ended, there were many long lasting effects. Thousands of people died during this time period. In the Union, 112,000 people were killed in battle, 197,000 died of disease, and 64,000 people died as prisoners. In the Confederacy, 94,000 people died in battle, 140,000 died from diseases, and 26,000 people died as prisoners. After adding these numbers up, more than 633,000 total people died during this massive, bloody war. General Lee, how did the Confederacy reconstruct itself after the civil war?
Linde: Well, seeing that most of the civil war was fought in our fields and all of our slaves were to be freed, we were left to rebuild without assistance. This left many of us in a state of poverty and some of our agriculture never recovered. We have plans to become more industrialized as Yankee carpetbaggers are starting to migrate into the area and Congress has planned to subsidize building the transcontinental railroad into the South to unite the country farther.
Amanda: What about you General Grant? Did the Northern states have a lot of reconstruction after the war?
Nichole: The Northern states continue to build their manufacturing industries with the help of immigrants. We also are fighting harder for the freedom of slaves. After the War of the Rebellion, over 4 million slaves were freed thanks to President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation as well as all of the brave Union soldiers who courageously fought for what was right! As for reconstructing our land, we didn’t have a lot of work to do. Most of the battles during the war occurred in the Southern states.
Amanda: Harriet, what happened to you and your fellow Africans after the end of the civil war?
Laura: Slaves became “Freedmen” after the U.S. Congress passed the Confiscation Act of 1862. Under this act, Confederates who did not surrender within 60 days of the act's passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. But freedom was accompanied with frightening uncertainties. Homeless and with few possessions, many freedmen wandered across contraband camps and were hired out to unionist plantation owners for low wages. But as you imagine, not all freedman trusted the white mens’ professed friendship. Knowing the war was not over, unsure of what or whom to believe, many preferred to stay with their masters, whose power over them would remain after Union forces moved on. Others joined the Federal army after 1863, or followed it aimlessly, not knowing what else to do.
Amanda: That’s all the time we have today! We learned a lot about the Civil War today from the causes like creating more power for the states and fighting for inequality and injustice, to what reconstruction looks like for all sides. It seems like reconstruction is going to be a lengthy process, but hopefully we can all come out of this better than before. Thank you all for your time and for joining us today! I know that I learned a lot, and I hope everyone in the audience did to!
Dramatizing Social Studies Script
Activity Category: Interview
Activity Title: North vs. South
Number of Members: 4
Time of the Activity: 9 minutes
PA Standards:
- 8.1.3.B: Identify fact, opinion, multiple points of view, and primary sources as related to historical events.
- 8.3.3.D: Identify and describe how conflict and cooperation among groups and organizations have impacted the history and development of the US
NCSS Themes:Script
Characters: Reporter, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Harriet Tubman
Props: Civil War uniforms, slave clothing, microphone
Setting: TV set of LLAN News
Reporter Grant Lee Harriet
Amanda: Hi! Welcome to LLAN News! My name is Amanda, and today is January 26th, 1866. Today we will be discussing the events of the American Civil War. As you all know, the war lasted 4 years, from 1861 to 1865. As we discuss the war, we will talk with a few people about their experiences and views of the war. We have Ulysses S. Grant from the Union and Robert E. Lee from the Confederacy. Can each of you introduce yourselves for us? General Lee, you can go first.
Linde: Hello, my name is General Robert E. Lee, and I led the Confederates against the Union in The War for Southern Independence as we called it.
Nichole: Hi, my name is General Ulysses S. Grant, and I led the Union to a historic victory in The War of the Rebellion.
Amanda: Lee, I noticed that you called The War for Southern Independence and Grant, you called it The War of the Rebellion. Why is this?
Nichole: The South rebelled against the United States so we called it The War of the Rebellion.
Linde: We wanted independence from the rules of the Constitution. We thought that the Constitution should be set by the states and not by the Motherland, and the election of Lincoln meant our freedom might be taken away. We also wanted to lower taxes on imported goods. Theses tariffs forced were aimed towards us because the South import more goods than the North!
Amanda: That’s very interesting, I never knew that. So, in your individual opinion, what do you think caused the war?
Linde: Other than what I stated before, if our slaves were taken away we could no longer uphold our way of life. We needed cheap labor on our plantations to produce products such as cotton, sugar, and rice, as much as the North needs cheap labor in their industries. The slaves are better off here than Africa. Like I just stated, we started the war because we felt that the individual states needed more power to make decisions for themselves.
Nichole: Whoa! The United States needs to have a central government!
Linde: No! You don’t understand. Our economy is agriculture based. You are industrialized. How can we follow the same rules?
Nichole: Yeah but what about slavery? It is inhumane to have Africans working for nothing.
Amanda: That brings up a good point! We have another guest here to speak about that very point. Here is Harriet.
Laura: Hello my name is Harriet Tubman, and I worked as a slave for a Maryland cotton plantation for a good part of my life. I also watched my masters' children and was beaten whenever they cried. After escaping slavery in 1849 I returned to Maryland and made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves using the Underground Railroad. I think that we were fighting this war for freedom and equality.
Amanda: I heard Lee talking before about President Lincoln who was elected as president in 1860. How do each of you feel about him?
Linde: You already know how I feel about it. He was going to take away our freedom and independance.
Nichole: I think that Lincoln was the perfect man for the job! He is a Northern Republican, so the Union knew that he would support our views of slavery, our magnificent country, and the economy. He vowed to keep the country united and to keep slavery out of the new western territories. He sure did too! He declared all slaves free when signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.
Amanda: What about you Harriet? How do you feel about President Lincoln?
Laura: “Master Lincoln, he's a great man, and I am a poor negro; but the negro can tell master Lincoln how to save the money and the young men. He can do it by setting the negro free. Suppose that was an awful big snake down there, on the floor. He bite you. Folks all scared, because you die. You send for a doctor to cut the bite; but the snake, he rolled up there, and while the doctor doing it, he bite you again. The doctor dug out that bite; but while the doctor doing it, the snake, he spring up and bite you again; so he keep doing it, till you kill him. That's what master Lincoln ought to know.”
Amanda: Let’s move on. The Civil War ended on April 9th, 1865 when General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Even though the war ended, there were many long lasting effects. Thousands of people died during this time period. In the Union, 112,000 people were killed in battle, 197,000 died of disease, and 64,000 people died as prisoners. In the Confederacy, 94,000 people died in battle, 140,000 died from diseases, and 26,000 people died as prisoners. After adding these numbers up, more than 633,000 total people died during this massive, bloody war. General Lee, how did the Confederacy reconstruct itself after the civil war?
Linde: Well, seeing that most of the civil war was fought in our fields and all of our slaves were to be freed, we were left to rebuild without assistance. This left many of us in a state of poverty and some of our agriculture never recovered. We have plans to become more industrialized as Yankee carpetbaggers are starting to migrate into the area and Congress has planned to subsidize building the transcontinental railroad into the South to unite the country farther.
Amanda: What about you General Grant? Did the Northern states have a lot of reconstruction after the war?
Nichole: The Northern states continue to build their manufacturing industries with the help of immigrants. We also are fighting harder for the freedom of slaves. After the War of the Rebellion, over 4 million slaves were freed thanks to President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation as well as all of the brave Union soldiers who courageously fought for what was right! As for reconstructing our land, we didn’t have a lot of work to do. Most of the battles during the war occurred in the Southern states.
Amanda: Harriet, what happened to you and your fellow Africans after the end of the civil war?
Laura: Slaves became “Freedmen” after the U.S. Congress passed the Confiscation Act of 1862. Under this act, Confederates who did not surrender within 60 days of the act's passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. But freedom was accompanied with frightening uncertainties. Homeless and with few possessions, many freedmen wandered across contraband camps and were hired out to unionist plantation owners for low wages. But as you imagine, not all freedman trusted the white mens’ professed friendship. Knowing the war was not over, unsure of what or whom to believe, many preferred to stay with their masters, whose power over them would remain after Union forces moved on. Others joined the Federal army after 1863, or followed it aimlessly, not knowing what else to do.
Amanda: That’s all the time we have today! We learned a lot about the Civil War today from the causes like creating more power for the states and fighting for inequality and injustice, to what reconstruction looks like for all sides. It seems like reconstruction is going to be a lengthy process, but hopefully we can all come out of this better than before. Thank you all for your time and for joining us today! I know that I learned a lot, and I hope everyone in the audience did to!